


Steven Universe And The Many Attempts At Matricide

by ArtyLovr



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Time Travel, characters will be added as they show up, kind of hard not to use original characters when you're this far out of beach city
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:00:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22260727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtyLovr/pseuds/ArtyLovr
Summary: Armed with a cheeseburger backpack-shaped time machine, Steven, sick of everything that his mothers actions put him through, aims to end it once and for all.Too bad he's not very good at it.
Comments: 35
Kudos: 149





	1. Chapter 0: Today in the Future

"So this is purely for observational purposes?"

"Yes, definitely. No ulterior motives whatsoever."

Peridot narrowed her eyes at Steven, as the sweat nearly poured out of him. He gave her a pained, strangled grin in an attempt at reassurance. Her eyes narrowed further in response, only a sliver between them being open or closed. Steven began to internally panic-

"Well, it's a good thing I know you'd never lie to me, your best friend Peridot!" And with a much more genuine grin than the panicky-relieved one Steven had adopted, Peridot put the finishing touches on the time machine.

The time machine which fit perfectly into a cheeseburger backpack.

"So it's finished now, right? I can time travel now?"

"Absolutely!"

"Okay great, how do I-"

"Well I mean, in theory. You might also just explode."

The two stared at each other with unreadable expressions, yet those unreadable expressions still indicated their own unique emotions. Varying in unreadability, readable in their non-emotion.

"Eh, I trust you. If I explode Connie gets all my stuff!"

Peridot glared at him, " _All_ your stuff?"

Steven sighed, "Yes you can have the TV."

"Excellent! The panel to input the date is here, and this is how you activate it."

Steven punched in his destination and prepared to hit the activation switch.

"Well, wish me luck!"

Peridot watched (in relief as there was no obvious explosion) as Steven vanished from the beach, leaving nothing behind but an imprint of sandals in the sand.

"Oh no. I forgot to tell him where the panel containing the manual is!"

"...Eh, he'll be fine."


	2. An Attempt Was Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Attempt the first: that boss you beat early on in the game but ends up protected by plot armor, the chapter.

Instead of going straight to the era of Pink Diamond, Steven had to make a stop to a point in time sometime... a little more recent.

"I'm borrowing this." He said, catching the Breaking Point before it could land in the lava.

His younger self watched him disappear with horror. Bismuth boomed out a laugh.

"I knew you'd come around eventually!"

*

"Okay," he said, "I have the Breaking Point, I didn't explode, now all I have to do is..." he trailed off, having just noticed the blatantly obvious Gem structure in the distance.

"Find a way to Mom. Huh, that works." And with goal in mind, he set off.

It was a lot further than he thought it was.

A _lot_ further.

By the time he reached the structure, he was slightly out of breath. It was very far.

There were guards, of course, but they didn't seem to pay him any notice. But then, there were other humans there too, one of which was attempting to kick an Amethyst, with marginal success.

Although their intent was likely to cause them harm, not make them fall over laughing.

Steven grimaced, but put it out of his mind. At least it made it easier for him- he could just walk right in there and stab Pink Diamond and no one would be any the wiser. Except maybe Pearl, but she'd get over it. Probably.

Okay so Pearl doesn't deserve to get hurt but that's kind of the point of the mission here.

A bit of wandering around led him to what could only be where Pink Diamond was. Or at least he hoped that's what the symbols and images on the doors meant, but he didn't even know if he was in the right place.

If not, he'll call it a warm-up run and try again.

The guards didn't stop him going in. In fact they giggled, so maybe he was far from the first human to wander in there.

Steven tried not to think about if they came back out again.

"Oh, Pearl look! Another human!" She seemed happy to meet him. Shame the feeling wasn't mutual.

"Hm. Those guards have been letting them run around all over the place." Pearl mused.

"Oh, that's just because they're harmless," She beckoned Steven closer, "aren't you?"

He tried to keep the hands holding the Breaking Point behind his back from shaking too hard as he walked closer. This was it, he was going to do it, this was _so much easier than he expected-_

"Oh!" Pink Diamond turned away before he could strike, alarmed by an incoming call, "Ughh, it's Yellow. Can't she wait?"

"You know she can't." Responded Pearl sadly.

Pink Diamond sighed. "Sorry little human," she said, turning back towards Steven, "we'll have to play together another day."

Then she bubbled him and tossed him out the window.

*

Steven bounced far away, much further than where he time travelled to, before the bubble popped and dropped him. He took the opportunity of being face down and screamed into the dirt like a natural, gritty pillow.

"I was _so close!_ " He leapt up and flailed his arms in the air, trying to shake the frustration out of his body.

Five minutes of frustration dancing later, he took a deep breath and calmed down.

"It's fine. I'll just go back and try it again." And with that, he disappeared through time again.

Or tried to, anyway. The backpack merely sparked and let out a poof of smoke in response to his interactions. Which, if Steven thought about it, made sense. He did just bounce for several miles and machines don't tend to like that sort of thing much.

Not that he's speaking from experience. Not at all. (He is.)

"Well," He said to himself, "that didn't work."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The time travel rules here follow the same ones shown in canon- you know, the ones that let a handful of Stevens make a band together.


	3. New Friends?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven makes some new friends... sort of.

It took three days of trying before Steven's rations began to run out. He didn't expect it to take this long, or for the time backpack to break, and there's only so far that snack bars can be stretched out.

After a few attempts, Pink Diamond had left the building. Steven's current goal was to follow her, but the warp pad was much better guarded (which Steven thought was strange, considering humans couldn't use it) and he didn't know where she went anyway. His mission, for now, was one of reconaissance.

A mission that was hard to do when none of the gems stationed in the area seemed to know or talk about Pink Diamond's whereabouts.

Which brought him back to running out of supplies. And the only place nearby he could think of that might help with that was the human village.

So that's where he went.

It was a nice place, if you ignored the ominous looming gem structure and loud construction noises in the distance. A lot of trees, houses built in harmony with nature, distressed shouting...

_Wait, hold on._

_"Help, please! Where is Bell?!"_ screamed the man hauling someone else over his shoulder as he passed Steven, _"Leaf has been hurt!"_

The villagers, Steven included, rushed to the two men to help. A woman bearing herbs approached wearing a concerned expression.

"What happened?"

"Those _monsters_ ," spat the man as he laid Leaf down, "pushed him down the stairs. And acted as though it were an accident!"

Many of the people in the crowd mumbled, clearly agreeing that this was no accident.

Steven wisely kept his mouth shut.

The woman, barely listening, looked up, "I am sorry. He is injured in a way I cannot reach. There is nothing I can do to save him."

The anger and distress in the crowd rose, several began to sob. Just as the frenzied state of the crowd was about to burst, they all went silent.

Steven blinked as he realized it was because he had, at some point, placed his hand on Leaf and healed him.

_'Oops... force of habit.'_ He thought, as he watched Leaf open his eyes.

"...When did I get back here?" The crowd watched in astonishment as Leaf rose up as though he had never been hurt at all.

Someone cheered. "The gods have gifted us a hero to ward off the monsters!"

"Uh, I'm really not-"

"What is your name, oh powerful one?"

"Steven, but-"

"The mighty healer Steven has come to rid us of the monsters who have been invading our lands! A feast for the mighty Steven!"

_"Steven! Steven! Steven!"_

The half-gem hybrid stared in horror for a moment, before shrugging it off.

After all, it wasn't as though they were _wrong_. The promise of food, on the other hand?

He'd try to convince them he's not sent from the gods... after he'd had something to eat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not how this chapter was meant to go, darnit Steven.


	4. Feastivities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven meets the villagers. He does not eats the villagers.

The feast the village had set up was spectacular. Fire danced, lighting up the area with a warm, inviting flicker. The stars overhead twinkled with a brightness and clarity that Steven was sure it was lacking in his own time. Festive music produced from handmade instruments filled the air.

And as Steven looked around, noticing the glimmer of hope in the eyes of the weary people surrounding him, he realized he had a problem.

There was no way he could tell them. It would break their hearts.

~~~

Leaf, the man Steven healed, had taken it upon himself to tell Steven all about the villagers.

"So over there is Bell, she is the village healer- well, she does not heal with glow magic like you, but her potions and poultices are like magic!"

He paused in thought, "I do not think she has ever encountered another healer before."

~~~

She glared at him in something bordering the line between disdain and jealousy. Somehow, despite having experience with staring down fearsome opponents far larger and more intimidating than this small woman, Steven still found himself shuffling in discomfort.

"So..." he started, hoping to diffuse the building tension, "you're a healer, huh?"

Bell only continued to glare at him. Steven's discomfort increased.

"So uh. That probably takes a lot of training, right?"

"My whole life."

"...Oh. Uh... Huh."

~~~

"That man over there is my good friend, Howl. He has a very dark sense of humor, but he is a good soul who will never turn his back on his friends."

A wistful look grew over Leaf's face, "I love him dearly."

~~~

"I am very glad you are here, Steven!" Howl smiled.

Steven smiled back, "Well... I'm glad to be here!" _For the food, mostly._

"I am also glad you are a _real_ god chosen! The last one lied to us and led us to believe he would save us all, but he was only interested in our food."

"What happened to him?"

"We boiled him alive!" The beaming grin on Howl's face was genuine. That only made it all the more disturbing.

Steven glanced at the meat stew (which he opted not to partake in as a vegetarian, which many villagers thought made him more mystical and intriguing) boiling on the center fire.

Howl noticed where he was looking and chuckled, "Do not worry, we did not eat him. We do not do that here."

He gazed into the distance with a horrified expression, "Not anymore."

~~~

"And over there is Dave!"

"'Sup?" said Dave.

~~~

Steven learned many things that night. That the village was constantly moving from fertile land to fertile land, due to the constant gem presence ruining the nearby soil. He learned that they had tried everything to get them to stop- first diplomacy, then violence, until eventually they only had one thing left they could do; pray.

And then Steven appeared.

In strange clothes, with powerful magic, and a presence that promised them that he had the power to save them.

_'It's just one lie.'_ Steven thought, _'What harm could it do?'_


	5. Over The Hills And Far Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> plot i guess, but also who wants to go on a rOAD TRIP!?!?

After the feast wound down and the embers in the fire began to die out, Leaf (self-declared "guide for Steven") was the only villager left lingering.

The two of them stared at each other for quite some time.

"...Do you want something?" Steven asked.

Leaf paused for a moment, seemingly trying to think of how to best word his question, "We were wondering... if you have a plan for defeating the monsters?"

"Uhh... kinda?" Steven sat down and did his own share of thinking, "My plan mainly involves shattering Pink Diamond, but she's warped somewhere else? And none of the gems near here seem to know where she went... Uh, Leaf? Are you okay?"

Leaf uncrossed his eyes. "I understood almost none of those words."

"Oh. Oh! Right! Uh, where do I- right. So, first of all, the 'monsters' are actually called gems..."

*

"...And so if I can take out the Diamonds, there won't be any more Gem Empire. Does... that make sense?"

"No."

"Oh."

Leaf smiled reassuringly, "Do not worry Steven, I am sure that I will understand one day. That is just... a lot to learn all at once."

Steven smiled back, "Yeah, good point. It did take me _years_ to learn it." _Although I had to learn most of it on my own..._

"So you need to get some information from these monst- Gems?" Leaf sat in thought for a moment.

"It's okay, I'll think of something, I usually do-"

"Then get more Gems!"

Steven blinked, "What?"

"If the Gems here do not know what you need to know," Leaf explained, "then we must find more Gems that do know! They are all over the place, usually they find us, but maybe this time we can find them!"

"We?" Steven's eyes widened in a mix of surprise and concern, "Do you mean... you and the other villagers?"

"Our village and many others want them to _stop_ , Steven. Of course we will help you!"

For some reason he wasn't quite sure of, Steven's eyes began to water. Maybe it was Leaf's determination. Maybe it was the promise of help, when he was used to being the one doing the helping. Or maybe it was the pollen from all the flower decorations.

Either way, there was only one response to Leaf's beaming smile and willingly offered service:

"Wow, thanks!"

*

Two days later, the villagers had packed up everything of value, and they all set off.

Steven glanced back every so often, mildly unnerved by how little trace there was of the village having ever been there. The huts had been dismantled quickly and efficiently, so the only remnants was a bit of displaced soil where the paths through the village had been.

If you needed to move around a lot, you'd need to be very good at packing, he assumed. It wasn't as though they had a van to keep everything in, after all.

He stopped glancing back once they crested a hill and it vanished over the horizon. The guilt didn't vanish with it, but he tried to ignore it.

_'After all,'_ he thought as they all walked towards the morning sun, _'If I succeed, they'll never have to move again.'_

*

_"They moved again?!"_

A group of quartzes and their squad leader tried not to shiver at the commander's outrage. Even over a hologram her rage could be felt, and an angry commander could lead to the shattering of any of them- it would well be in the right of any gem so high in rank.

Except for a pearl, of course.

The commander let out a sigh and tried to calm down. "Our Diamond wants as much footage of the human nest as possible. This is your _only_ task. So explain to me how you _lost them?"_

"The quartz given the task of watching them failed in her duty." Explained Agate, "She will be punished accordingly."

"Good. However, you now have a new task, and if you don't wish to be punished by myself, then you won't disappoint our Diamond again."

"Yes, oh lustrous commander! Anything!" Agate begged.

"Act as scouts and find the humans, so that a new observation team can be sent. I'd send someone more..." she turned her gaze to Agate, and curled up her nose in clear disgust, "capable, but we need all hands on deck dealing with the rebels. Once you've found the humans and reported back, you will be reassigned. Are my instructions clear?"

"Yes, your command has been recieved! We will not fail you." Agate saluted and bowed.

The commander said nothing, but the expression she wore as she disconnected the call said volumes.

When Agate turned around, she gifted the quartzes with a murderous expression, "Who was on human duty?"

The quartzes all shuffled around awkwardly, none of them wanting to speak but also none of them wanting to disappoint their Agate.

One of the quartzes was shaking with the effort of saying nothing, not wanting to get her fellow quartz in trouble. Agate sensed her distress and leaned in.

"Who was it, 8LM?"

They stared at each other for less than a few seconds before 8LM cracked; "It was 8LI!"

The other quartzes let out a groan at the betrayal. Except for 8LI, who looked like she was about to cry. Agate on the other hand, looked like she was willing to help her do so.

"Now, now, 8LI," she purred, "don't look so terrified! I'm not mad."

"...You're not?" 8LI asked, hopefully.

"No, in fact, I have a special task, just for you!" Agate smiled, and the hopeful look on 8LI's face began to crumble, "We'll all be going out to find the humans, as a unit... except you. _You_ will be searching _alone_. Far away from the rest of us."

8LI gazed at her in horror. "But- but there's rebels-!"

"I'm sure you'll be fine. Or not. It doesn't matter, the Diamonds have no need for failures." She turned to the other quartzes. "Well don't just stand there, we have orders. Gather the essentials and prepare to move out."

So they did. The squad began their search in the west, with the intent of searching the nearby area.

8LI was sent in the other direction, to go as far as possible. So she did, walking towards the morning sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have like five things in my 'plot' outline and this is the setup to one of them
> 
> even though this, too, has been made up overnight like some fever dream like the rest of the chapters so far. was gonna have steven chill in the village for a bit but he said no and here we are


End file.
